Walmart Canada and VISA Showdown, Will Bitcoin Emerge as the Winner?

Whenever there is an issue regarding fiat currency, bitcoin is sure to have the last laugh. Bitcoin has been around for about 8 years as an alternative digital currency, which is perfectly capable of operating of ensuring transfer of value without the intervention of an organization or a government as the trusted third party. The decentralized, open source, peer to peer transaction protocol allows people who are part of the network to act as a third party to facilitate transactions.

When it comes to fiat currency, the story is completely different. Every organization, starting from the government appointed Central Bank to the local bank branch or the payment gateway service provider wants to act as the gatekeeper for their customers’ funds and charge a hefty sum for doing so. Customers end up unnecessarily paying for these services which may not even be beneficial for them.

Dissatisfaction among customers is a common occurrence in the fiat industry. Recently, Walmart in Canada made its displeasure towards the payment processing giant VISA
by announcing that it will not be accepting VISA powered cards anymore from its customers. While the ban is expected to come into effect from July 18
, Walmart Canada is not the only store that is pissed off with the credit card provider. According to reports, many medium and small businesses are also facing the same issues where VISA is charging an unacceptably high processing fee for transactions on its cards.

Walmart Canada’s move will translate to an effective ban on the cards at over 400 locations across Canada. For the first time, Walmart’s move has received widespread support from small businesses which otherwise do not see eye to eye with the retail giant. few of these small businesses have even decided to follow Walmart Canada’s suit and stop accepting VISA from their merchants too. This has definitely started a debate in the Canadian government circles, with bureaucrats trying to find a solution for the high processing fee.

In this fight, the small businesses and customers are the ones to lose out the most. While small businesses depend on their clientele, rejecting some of them for using VISA will definitely drive away the customer. At the same time, credit cards are supposed to make transactions more convenient, but now it turns out that you should have the ‘right’ credit card to enjoy the convenience.

Bitcoin for Visa, a great trade-off

Bitcoin, on the other hand, can effectively put an end to the whole confusion. It is a well-known fact that the digital currency transactions are faster and cheaper. It ideally doesn’t require any third party payment gateway or processing service either. For few pennies as mining fee, transactions can be easily executed over the bitcoin network. Even these businesses have an added advantage compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world. Canada is known to be favorable towards bitcoin and the regulatory support offered by the government make the transition much smoother,

Will the Canadian merchants continue to fight with the credit card majors or adopt a much better payment method in the form of bitcoin is something that only time will tell. Till then, happy shopping.